test of story for proof reading purposes
by Unpennedlegact
Summary: Pay this story no mind, as soon as I finish what I need to do here, it will be deleted and removed. this is just to not raie hopes that my main account will be posted on yet.
1. Chapter 1

The man wearily raised his sword to parry one of the many blades that were slicing through the air, targeting him. Twisting after the closest sword was redirected by his blade, he widened his stance to take more of the heavy strikes. The more stable foundation would help him not to be battered around too much while he deflected the blades away from his body. Continually turning and taking in where each enemy was and when they seemed to prepare to strike, he was able to fend off the forces that were slowly beginning to surround him.

A strike got within his defense and left a deep cut in his left shoulder. A muffled grunt of pain escaped his lips as he turned his body again to take the injured limb further from danger, still fending off attacks with his blade and keeping his feet moving. He managed to strike down three more, even as another handful joined the large number of enemies already surrounding him.

He spat out a few words and felt a small drop in his energy as an Urgal dropped for no visible reason. Even with the killing words he had discovered, he could not use them too often without draining himself. There was no sense in draining his energy out completely if he could block the unskilled strikes well enough. Deciding it was enough of an emergency, he drew in some of the stored energy in his ring and continued blocking with a renewed sense of vigor. Perhaps there was hope still.

* * *

An immeasurable distance away, there was another man who held a youthful appearance, though his true age was something none would expect or guess. He had been through more than his fair share of things in life and had seen a great number of things the few could fully even imagine. His experiences were gained through many different jumps to different times and places. The ability to move on to another place was always there, but he was able to hold some measure of control over when he allowed his magic to take him to the next place he was needed. The result, however, was that the man who had now been around for a few millennia, could not complain that his life was boring in any sense of the word.

The now easily recognized feeling that came about just before he allowed himself to be taken to a new place fell over him and he did a few quick charms to ensure he had everything he needed before he left the reality he was in. The feelings differed between traveling through time, traveling to a side reality or dimension, or going to a different galaxy within the universe. This time, his travel would be to a reality and time he had never been to, not that he ever returned to the exact same time and place, but he had experienced a few travels within the same time, world, or universe.

There was always a sense of accomplishment when he left a world, having been placed there specifically to assist as needed, but at times it could be very wearing. A few millennia would wear down anyone after a time. Sighing, he forced himself to focus on the possible new experiences he could have. Confident that his belongings were secured, he stepped into the flow of magic that pulled him to his next adventure.

* * *

More hits landed as the man grew tired and the wounds were causing him to move slower and accumulate more. Even the stored energy in Aren couldn't fully offset the injuries he was accumulating. The cuts and pierces seemed to sap his strength directly. Blood was quickly seeping out of his body and a puddle was forming alarmingly fast beneath him on the ground as he still fought back. His hope of surviving this encounter was quickly dwindling as the enemies still continued to crowd him. He had never known that there was such a large amount of Urgals in this area. Angela had mentioned they had tribes in the area, but he hadn't known there were this many so close by.

A bright light erupted off to the side and drew the attackers' attention away from him for a few moments and he took advantage of their distraction to strike down another five Urgals. His red blade slicing through arms and shoulders of his enemies, drawing cries from the victims of his infamous blade and bringing the Urgals' attention back to him. The bodies of the attackers quickly started dropping as a miniature light show danced through the darkness that had been disrupted just a few moments earlier. A man who looked to be in his mid-twenties stepped over the bodies he had slain and continued clearing out the monstrous creatures and Brom allowed himself to drop heavily to the ground as the last few enemies were dispatched.

The man who had moved in to help kill the surrounding Urgals quickly stepped over to Brom and knelt next to him, his hand already beginning to move over Brom's battered body. A soft glow sprang up around his body for a few moments and a low curse was heard from the young man and he drew out a stick before making more intricate patterns over Brom's body and Brom could feel magic being pulled in around him and then being placed into the wounds on his body.

The wounds quickly closed up and Brom could feel his internal muscles knitting back together as the pain diminished and became more bearable. Breathing a little easier, Brom was able to sit up and look over at his rescuer in wonder. This person had just healed all of his injuries, as far as he could tell, and yet he did not seem winded at all.

"Take it easy, friend," the young man stated as he quickly scanned the area they were in before looking back at Brom, "I may have been able to heal the injuries, but you should still go slowly at first. Unfortunately I couldn't bring your muscles back to full strength with the spells I had to use to patch you up quickly enough to keep you alive. You will need to slowly work your way back to what you could normally do." The young man stood up and began to move around the area that was now littered with Urgal bodies. He used his foot to roll one of the slain beings over and looked at it contemplatively. "What are these creatures called?" The young man asked.

Brom coughed out a chuckle, "Urgals. What kind of rock have you been living under?"

"Ah. The question isn't what rock I have been living under it is, what rock have I been living on, for I am a traveller. Never before have I come across this species though. They seem fierce." The young man stated as he looked about the battle area.

A grunt of exertion from Brom had the young man sighing and shaking his head without turning around to look at the old rider. "I thought I told you to take it easy." He stated exasperatedly as he continued surveying the corpses.

"You don't know me, hang around long enough and you'll find I don't follow suggestions unless I like them. I've always said, better to ask forgiveness than permission and frankly I don't need either from you. However, my name is Brom, stranger, and I thank you for your help. You say you are a traveller, where is your place of origin?" Brom asked. He was curious as to where this man could be from that would keep him from knowing of Urgals.

The stranger looked at him for a few moments with unseeing eyes, "I sometimes almost forget truly. Having travelled for so long and seeing so much, but my beginning place is far away, across many seas." Which was true, space could be considered a black sea that few traversed and moving through time was like splashing in one of those oceans for a short time. The man chuckled, "How rude of me, saving your life without giving proper introductions. I have gone by many names in the past, though my birth name of Harry has always been my favorite."

There was a feeling of ancient power hanging about the man who called himself Harry, an odd name in Brom's opinion, but it could be worse he supposed. "So what now?" Brom questioned, not quite sure what to expect from this stranger. One could never be too cautious in times like this. He had a task to get prepared for and a small town on the other side of the Spine to set up in. Maybe he would even get to see his son... Brom shook his head as he focused back on the young man before him, "Do you have a place you are heading? And how did you get here in the first place anyways? I didn't think anyone was around for miles."

Harry chuckled, "And yet you still were ambushed by these Urgals. I don't have an exact direction I am heading in, nor a final location I wish to arrive at. Would you mind letting me tag along as a traveling companion? Perhaps you could tell me more about what all is going on here right now. I am severely out of the loop."

Brom looked at Harry for a few moments. He was wary of the young man, but something inside of him seemed to trust him, a part that had long been quiet within his mind. There was something within him that felt as though he would need this young man before the day was out. He nodded contemplatively to his new companion before hobbling towards his belongings that had been dropped when the Urgals first started their attack.

The pair slowly made their way through the thick underbrush and around the large tree trunks. They had to stop and rest often as Brom's strength was not at its normal level. The quick healing spells Harry had to use made the muscles a little weaker, sacrificing the quick return of strength for the ability to keep Brom from bleeding out while Harry worked on him. Harry had cast a few spells to make traveling easier however which Brom was exceedingly grateful for and marveled at. He didn't understand the kind of magic Harry was doing, nor had he ever heard of someone using magic in such a way.

As they walked, Brom spoke of the events happening throughout Alagaesia and of dragons and magic. Much like Brom had been fascinated with Harry's use of magic, Harry was intrigued at the Ancient Language and its uses and limits. It was during one of their breaks from walking that Brom felt a sense of unease flow throughout his body before pain racked his left shoulder.

Harry was on his feet and next to Brom within moments, casting revealing spells trying to find the issue. The healing spells had worked as they were supposed to, but there was something still causing problems. Harry had checked for poisons and internal injuries along with just simple injuries from the blades of the Urgals, but nothing came back as what could be causing the problem. Harry popped back to the clearing he had first arrived in and checked the blades. He hadn't wanted to cast any other spells on Brom, in case whatever was happening responded poorly to the interference of magic as he had seen before.

One of the blades, he discovered, was lightly coated in a solution of some kind. Harry cast a few more spells over the tainted weapon but still received no information on what it was. Still holding it, Harry popped back to where he had left Brom and moved over quickly to kneel next to him.

"Brom, is this a poison or something? I have never seen it before." Harry stated calmly even though he was internally worried. If there were substances that gave no reading at all for him here, he would have to work out new spells. Not a big issue, but definitely time consuming and not something he could do now to be helpful to Brom. The substance had no scent and Harry didn't want to try tasting it until he knew what it was, but usually people didn't put harmless substances on weapons unless it was for a ritual of some kind.

Brom looked as the coated blade and nodded in resignation. "There have been mutterings that a new form of poison was developed by the Urgal witchdoctors that can resist the Ancient Language if done correctly. The ingredients for it though are said to be nearly impossible to find in Alagaësia. This was likely one of the few times it has been used, most likely as a way to test if it works. I know nothing about it aside from those few things." Brom sighed and shook his head. "Nothing to be done about it now I suppose." He pulled his pack around in front of him, wincing slightly at the movement and began rummaging through it slowly.

Harry had a thought and quickly pulled out a small pouch and dug his hand down deeply into it. He had gathered up many different things over his travels and had run into plenty of poisons and such before that he didn't have an immediate antidote to, but he did always carry plenty of bezoar stones from various goats. One particular breed he had found a number of centuries prior had been particularly useful at curing poisons. He had come across a farm that raised the goats but hadn't known of the benefits of the bezoars. Harry pulled out one quickly, breaking himself from reminiscing and handed it to Brom. "Swallow this."

Brom looked at him confusedly and took the small dark mass from Harry, examining it in his hands. "What is it?" He asked after looking at it closely.

"It is called a bezoar, it is a general remedy that my people have used for many poisons. While I may not be able to cure you since it does not even register for me as existing, this may be able to help cure the poison." Harry replied hopefully.

Taking one last unsure look at Harry, he grabbed his wineskin and took a drink after putting the bezoar in his mouth to help wash it down. Harry watched for a few moments but looked down disappointedly when Brom gave a shudder of pain once more that was stronger than the last time.

Harry's gaze was lost on the sword's blade and the poison covering it. He pulled his wand out again and waved it towards Brom, slowly incanting the spells to reveal poisons but he received no response but as a grimace of pain racked the older man's body, he couldn't contest the fact that something was still wrong with him, and it was nothing Harry could fix. "I'm sorry Brom. I know of nothing else to do. I have potion ingredients to make antidotes for poisons I know of, and I might be able to make an antidote if I work at it, but it could take hours, days or even years. For some reason, I doubt you would coat a sword with poison that takes years to do it's job."

Brom gave a humorless laugh in response, "Too true." Brom fell silent for a few moments as he stared at Harry, the pain running through his body at more frequent intervals. "Amongst all my achievements and failures, there is one thing I will regret above all others, and that is that I will never see my son grow up. He will never know his father, and there will be no one to help guide the next Rider as I had sworn to do. Harry, I am sorry, but I must ask you to do something for me." He shakily pulled a letter from his bag and handed it over to Harry.

"You must make contact with Jeod in Daret. He is an old colleague of mine and he must be told of what happened to me. It was my task to wait for the next Dragon Rider to be found so that I can take them to the Varden to have them start their training. If this poison claims me like I think it will, someone else must do so in my stead, though I do not really know if there is anyone prepared for such a task. Regardless, I will give you my ring and sword and also have you write a letter to Ajihad to let him know of the circumstances that forces this change in plans. I need you to swear that you will do your best to make sure the Dragon Rider is given the best chance to learn and develop. The future of Alagaësia rests on this."

Harry looked at Brom silently for a few seconds as the man shuddered against the pain from the poison and felt a tug against his senses. Drawing his wand slowly, he asked, "Is there no one that could take your place?"

Brom hesitated for a moment and then shook his head slowly. "None that can truly give their fullest effort to it and those that could do not have the information that they need. Not to boast, but with my passing, the future riders will have to learn everything new on their own. Perhaps that is for the best..."

Harry could tell there was some twisting of the truth to the man's words, but didn't press. "If there was someone sitting in front of you that had the knowledge and ability to train the next rider, what would you ask of them?" Harry questioned quietly.

Brom closed his eyes and took a couple deep breaths as a particularly painful wave washed over his body. "To swear that they would start to train the rider away from the influence of the humans, elves, and dwarves and then take them to the Varden and Elves to help against Galbatorix. There is nothing wrong with most of the people in those races, but if you have been around politics or large groups of people, you know that there are some bad members of every race, and I have no desire to see the next generation of riders be swayed to favor one race over another.

"After training them I would ask that the rider be taken to the Varden to help Ajihad, and then to finish training with the Elves. But obviously, if you do not know about Urgals then you don't know where any of those groups are, how to speak the language, or even know anything about raising dragons so it is entirely an empty hope."

Rocking back, Harry raised his wand in front of him and let power flow into his words, "While I may not know everything about how things are done on this world, I believe I can be of assistance. Especially if you have any books on the matter, or if I might borrow some of your memories. Just so that you know I am not trying to trick you," Harry held his wand aloft in front of him and magic began to glow at its tip.

"I, Harry James Potter, swear to wait for the next Dragon Rider to be chosen and will do my best to guide them, teach them, and train them to be a just and caring ruler. I will deliver or direct the Rider to those that will assist and teach the Rider in the necessary ways to succeed. If it is within my power to better their future, I will do so. This I swear, so mote it be."

A soft light circled out from Harry to Brom and Brom could feel magic responding to the young man's words before him in a way that reminded him of oaths being spoken in the Ancient Language. Gasping for breath, he settled back fully in amazement at the power this young man before him held. Harry knelt down in front of him. "Any final requests of me?" Harry asked softly.

Brom was mid breath when everything froze, the sounds of night were silenced instantly and Harry lifted his gaze to the area surrounding him.

"Yes, milady?" He questioned to the seemingly emptiness around him.

A shadow appeared a short distance from him and he could almost hear the pout as she spoke. "Awe, you're no fun any more."

"You have always had a certain manner when you appear, change up your approach and perhaps you will have better luck at catching me by surprise. It is hard to not notice when everything around me freezes without me trying to make it happen." Harry quipped easily, though he was still feeling sadness at the confirmation that Brom would be passing soon. "You generally come and go as you please when a person is passing, what is so special here that you decided to stop the world for a chat?"

"Can't Death just visit every once in a while?" The shadow questioned.

"Yes, and you do, though most people are less welcoming than me." Harry replied evenly.

"To true, it isn't my fault that people aren't usually ready to meet me. Their time comes, and I am never late to my appointments. You know this well." Death saw Harry smirk slightly and begin to open his mouth and waved off any retort about a certain Dark Lord. "When there are no extenuating circumstances. Now, you are correct, I have a reason to be here. This world is built differently than others; you have seen some that are similar to it though. The reason you are here is because things must be done—"

"That is how it always is. If one knew the conversations we have, they would think that you were the master here, I never get any breaks or worlds off, everywhere I go, you come around and say 'work, work.' No sick days, no paid vacation; there's always something to fix or a person to defeat and send your direction." Harry grumbled with a slight joking tone to his voice.

"Such is how things works. If I sent you somewhere I didn't need something being done, you would get bored. There is not a single world I have authority in that doesn't need something. As for the worlds I don't have authority in, I am not allowed to send you there since you would have no reason for being there. I send you where you are needed because that is simply how it works." She stated primly.

"Fine, what is it you need?" Harry questioned when she made no move to explain further.

"I need you to deal with a problem that…is of a delicate nature." Death hedged slightly.

"Things never go easily when you start out like this…" Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"You can't make any huge waves until after some circumstances have been met; nothing that draws much attention to you at least. Do things in the background, and set the ball in motion on what you can, but nothing flashy, nothing noticeable." Death declared seriously. "However, the chosen Rider's training must start away from the Varden, Elves, humans, and dwarves of this world, much as Brom mentioned. They would do well if it was left to them, but the perspective will be skewed to their likings.

"Brom would have done well, intimately knowing the treachery of humans, the pride of the elves and the stubbornness of dwarves. Without an impartial, or at least an equally honest teacher, this world will make no progress to speak of. Yes, Galbatorix will be overthrown still, but nothing worth mentioning aside from the end of one tyrant's reign will come about. There will be no changes to how the previous rider leaders became in the end if he is trained by any of the three groups."

Harry looked at Death in slight confusion. She sighed. "You must train him."

"But I am supposed to not be noticed by most others until after a certain point?" Harry clarified. Death simply nodded in response.

Harry scoffed "How to travel with the person that is going to set the world on its head and yet not be noticed…" Harry mused aloud. "Though I suppose if I do most of his training in secret and then let him make his own way until this 'certain point' that you mentioned. I could reasonably step back in after that and really start to help out more. It would be better that way anyways since at some point I will have to move on?" Harry questioned Death and got a small smile in return.

Taking heart at the positive response he looked back at Brom's frozen body, pain evident on his face, and hummed in thought. After a moment longer, he questioned a bit more. "What are these situational requirements you are talking about? What point do I have to wait for us to be past before I can step back in? And what is so delicate about this situation?" Harry looked towards her once more, but Death had already faded from view.

As the world began to spin back into motion, Harry gave one look between where Death had stood and the slowly dying body of Brom before letting out a sigh. He weighed the two options before him, inform the Varden of Brom's passing immediately as the old man had slightly implied initially, or follow Death's urgings and Brom's preferences of how to deal with the current situation. However, his magic swelled within him in response to his oath and his 'full-time duty', as he referred to the tasks assigned to his position, and he determined that there was only one true course of action.

Death had stated that Brom would have done well in training the Dragon Rider, his perspective on the various races of the world leading to a more mild and unbiased opinion of the world. The man also held many contacts that would be useful in the years to come, depending on how soon the Rider would be chosen. Harry gave a sigh and knelt once more by Brom's side.

"For this to really work in the best way possible, I need to know where you were heading and why, I will stick to that plan and wait where you planned to." Harry said, reaching out to check Brom's temperature as a more violent shake ran through the older man's body. Brom's eyes were beginning to glaze over and Harry watched for a moment with a pained and contemplative expression on his face. With a sigh, he placed his index finger and thumb on either side of the man's head and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry to do this, friend, but for me to do the best I can and prepare for whatever future Death has warned of, I must have information. I hope you can forgive me."

With that, he gently bypassed the man's mental shields and began copying the memories and experiences from Brom's life into his own mind. Starting with the first memories of Brom's training to become a Dragon Rider at a young age, Harry moved forward quickly, not pausing to actually watch the memories right then, but shuffling them over to his own mind for review at a later time with his Occlumency. Some memories, however, were too strong to simply ignore and pass over.

Because of this, Harry experienced Brom's wonder and respect for the leaders of the Dragon Riders during their prime, the deep strength that the dragons themselves held and the joy of bonding with a dragon. He experienced the overwhelming sense of loss and hurt from Brom's dragon being killed, the deep attraction felt towards Selena that later turned into love. The peace and regret that accompanied striking Morzan down, elation at getting a dragon egg away from Galbatorix and then the sadness mixed with hope after the ambush that Harry had met him in. The joy at the birth of his son, yet sadness was that he would never be able to truly meet him. Hope at the fact that someone as powerful and good as Harry seemed to be was taking over the role he would be unable to fill for the Varden and those whose future rested with him for bringing the new Dragon Rider to safety.

The final emotions Harry received from Brom were contentment and acceptance. Having felt and seen Harry's magic and intent as the man had copied his thoughts, Brom rested in confidence that Harry would be able to fill the role of teacher even better than him. The last of Brom's strength was used to latch onto Harry's mind probe, understanding what Harry had chosen to do and Harry felt his approval in the action. "Train the Rider well, Harry. Watch over my son for me too, please." Brom's mental voice asked, and with a final sigh, Harry pulled out of the man's mind as watched as Brom's face settled into a relaxed look and stopped breathing. Harry stood and looked down at the body of the man, sorrowful that he had been unable to heal him.

He watched the man's spirit rise and was met by Death and a woman he now recognized as Selena from Brom's memories. After a slight hesitation he motioned with his hand and ignited the corpse of the man he had only just met, but now knew as well as himself. Brom and Selena both turned to Harry and gave a small bow and a smile full of trust and appreciation before he turned and fully moved to the next realm. Harry silently mourned for the unknown loss that a son had just suffered. Intimately aware of how such an absence feels, he swore to help as much as he could in the life of Brom's son.

His eyes lingered on the space Brom and Selena had just been and gave a soft sigh. "A burial fit for a King. Travel well, friend."


	2. Chapter 2

Getting settled in to Carvahall was an interesting experience for the wizard. The town was comprised of people who had grown into a close-knit community in the small village. It was a sense of shared wealth and hardship, though not entirely, everyone relying on someone else in town for the things they needed, even as other relied on them. The other needed or desired trinkets and goods were bought off of the same traders who made their yearly visits to the town, which meant the traders were also, generally, well known throughout the settlement. If anything wasn't purchased during the time that the traders came, a person would have to travel a week to get to the next closest town overland hope that the town had some extra to spare.

Harry was able to buy an area of land from an older man whose family had died already and he had no heirs to take up the family name. Harry quickly set up a temporary shelter until he was able to finish building an actual house. Once the main structure and outer walls of the building were put up, he used magic to easily and quickly put together the insides. Within six months, he started doing small things here and there, fixing items that broke in the village that couldn't be fixed by anyone else in the village or just filling in as a helping hand when it was needed. Word of his reliability spread through the village and he was slowly accepted in.

In connection to Brom, Harry had purposefully gone out to see Eragon, Brom's son, on a number of occasions shortly after he had gotten settled in. Garrow had been initially worried about Harry coming around so frequently, but Harry had a serious talk with the man, explaining that he was an uncle to Eragon, being closely tied to the man that had been the boy's father. That discussion had lasted all through the night and well into the next day.

Harry didn't give the full truth, but having Brom's memories allowed him to answer the essential questions and left him with enough room to fabricate as needed. The truths of Brom and Selena and their actions were not explained. Harry's reasoning for only just arriving at the time that he did was due to a request from Brom to meet him in Carvahall. The reason Harry gave for not visiting sooner was that he had been waiting for Brom to arrive to visit Eragon with him, and then later to search for info on Brom's whereabouts when the man failed to arrive as planned. Having Garrow know of him and approve of him helped Harry be accepted into the close knit community a bit better.

Word of his reliability spread through the village and he was slowly accepted in, aside from the easy welcome into Garrow's family, however, he mostly kept to himself and they were part of the reason he was accepted in more early. He was able to rely on himself mostly, conjuring what he needed to trade or sell so that he could buy things he needed and then going to hunt for any food he required. The first two years were spent integrating Brom's memories and practicing his talents, natural and learned, so that Harry knew he could use them effectively and so that his body was accustomed to moving and exerting as was necessary. His body was able to quickly pick up the different sword fighting techniques that Brom used and intermingle them with the way he had learned to fight before. The difficult part was learning to use the Ancient Language efficiently. Brom had his own levels of power he could use for different magics, but Harry had access to more direct power.

The year following, Harry was deeply experimenting with the interchangeability of the Ancient Language and the spells he had been using all of his life. The results he found were very agreeable to the wizard. The Ancient Language, to the best of Harry's understanding, was a series of words that could most easily be summed up in three components: 'Truth', 'Existence', and 'Creation'. The words of the Ancient Language, as Brom was taught, wasn't just a word for a certain item, it was the thing itself. Brisingr, for instance, didn't mean fire; it was fire and by knowing the word you had control over the thing. By using the Ancient Language, anything spoken either had to be true, or the Ancient Language made it so. It is impossible to lie while speaking in the Ancient Language, but not quite for the reasons that one would think.

A person could not use the Ancient Language to change something innate within them or their thoughts on a certain matter. If one were to attempt to state something untrue about themself, they would be unable to since the Ancient Language will not change them in such a manner. In a more physical example, one cannot say Brisingr while pushing power into the word with out fire being affected around them; saying Brisingr makes the fire in 'Existence' react. If there is no fire around the person, however, the 'Truth' and 'Creation' aspects come into being by taking your word and power, and creating fire to make what was said true.

The issue many magicians in this galaxy run into however and what causes so much caution with magicians here, is if one spoke something in the Ancient Language, but it wasn't in existence, the speaker's body is taxed with the power needed to bring it into existence. The part where the Ancient Language creates something so there is truth in the words is what can be so deadly. With Harry knowing magic however, he was mostly given a free pass to be able to do whatever he wanted. Magic makes doing the impossible a commonplace event. Creating something from nothing through conjuration is one such 'impossible' thing. Because of this versatility in magic, Harry found that he could create anything he wanted in the Ancient Language and only barely feel it because his magic made any job as easy as waving his stick and saying the spell for it.

Finding this out, he put his new discoveries to use and went through the entire knowledge bank of Brom and even made a few short expeditions, disguised differently of course, to find a few other tomes on the Ancient Language, and had also made a quick visit to Galbatorix's personal library using Brom's memories of the palace grounds.

Only a few books were physically taken while others were copied and placed back on the shelf. He had stopped by where he felt some heavy protections around a portion of the castle, but he could tell they were above his knowledge for traps and triggers in the Ancient Language. Brom knew a great amount, but Galbatorix had likely spent years working out the words for the protections over that area of the castle and Harry didn't want to tip his hand too early by botching an attempt to get in. He also spent time trying to create a cure to what he had heard called "Kingsbane" during his information gathering trips. The substance that had claimed Brom's life.

The next decade was spent in a mostly relaxed schedule. Training to keep himself in shape and studying were the two main focuses that occupied his time, but Eragon was a constant companion for the majority of it. Harry made sure the boy helped Garrow, as the work would be good for him, but Harry also taught the boy to read and write. Once that was accomplished, Harry began to assign the boy readings from the many books he had accumulated during his time in Alagaesia and some even from before his arrival in the world. One of Eragon's favorite pastimes, however, was looking at and reading through some of the books about dragons. The young man had been obsessed from day one and Harry was content to share all the information he could, passing on many pieces of wisdom and information that his father had discovered during his time as a dragon rider.

The second favorite pastime of Eragon's was hunting. The boy had seen in one of Harry's books how to fashion his own bow and arrows. Deciding that it was good for the boy to learn and was likely safer if assisted, Harry took the boy out to the Spine, despite the local superstitions and Garrow's muttered disapproval, and helped the boy gather the needed materials. They worked the bow, crafted the arrows, and then Harry began teaching Eragon how to shoot. The first bow and arrow were not perfect, but Harry made sure they were good enough for Eragon to practice his accuracy without possibly forming bad habits due to the quality.

While Brom may not have planned to spend so much time training his son, or even take a large role in his life, Harry wanted to spend whatever time he had available to spend with the boy and help him learn and grow. Having grown up without his parents, he wanted to do his best to fill in where he could. Harry was exceedingly pleased with how Garrow was raising the boy, though there were a few other aspects that the man either wouldn't or couldn't teach that Harry wanted Eragon to know.

It took many weeks of practice, but Eragon was determined and made progress, crafting two more bows of increasingly better quality before Harry was confident of the boy's aim. For Eragon's eleventh birthday, Harry took the boy out on his first hunting trip, which taught the boy another much needed skill for hunting; how to keep his mouth shut. It also helped with the boys knowledge of woodcraft, moving quietly and various other skills, but Harry joked that teaching the boy to be quiet for an extended period of time, aside from sleep, was his greatest accomplishment.

Following their return, he also decided to start working with the boy on different sword fighting forms and motions. Anyone that was the child of a rider would need to be able to protect themselves, Galbatorix's interest is a deadly thing and Harry wanted to ensure the boy would be able to protect himself well enough as he grew older. For another four years, Harry continued on in much the same way, experimenting with joining magic and the Ancient Language, training Eragon and at time Roran, and generally assisting the townsfolk on Carvahall and telling stories from Brom's memories and the dragon rider history books.

It was on one early morning as Harry was returning from a late night visit with one of the Varden informants he knew, that a burst of power flared into existence from the direction of the Spine. According to the informant, the egg had finished its stay in Surda after many children and young adults had been led past it to see if the egg would find its rider. It was now being carried back to the Varden for a short stay before it was taken to the elves in its continuous cycle. While the initial burst faded, a residual feeling of power still lingering at the blast's epicenter.

His interest and curiosity piqued, he quickly dissolusioned himself and apparated silently to a spot that was a short distance away from the center of the feeling. The ground had been scorched around an object's current resting place and a small amount of smoke continued to rise from the charred grass and now dead trees that surrounded it. Even though he couldn't make out any distinctions of the color and such due to the early morning darkness, the object in question was undoubtedly a dragon egg. He knew the general shape well from Brom's memories and knew of no rocks that looked similar.

A quiet sound to one side was heard and Harry turned his gaze to find the now 15 year-old Eragon. An arrow was still notched in his bow and the boy crept closer to the egg. He tapped the egg with the head of his arrow and a soft, melodic thrum echoed out into the clearing. Eragon glanced around for a few moments before reaching out and picking up the egg. Harry could instantly feel a conscious awaken more within the egg and joy radiated from the dragon held within. Harry then knew that the next rider had been chosen.

He watched as the boy seemed to be deciding whether to leave or take the egg. Harry knew the boy far too well to know that Eragon's inquisitive nature wouldn't let him leave the egg behind. Harry was looking forward to the look on the boy's face when he got it into better lighting and realized that it was an egg. The dawn's light was still struggling to make its way to the ground where the egg rested, so Harry was unsurprised that the boy didn't realize what he had stumbled upon.

Harry smirked as the boy unstrung his bow, stored it away, and carried the egg back toward the path home. Even though he knew the boy knew his way back, Harry was particularly watchful of the boy's return, his senses hyper aware of the surroundings and his mind tossing over various plans and contingencies that now needed to be put into action.

Eragon ended up making it back to his home safely over the next couple days and Harry slipped back into town without anyone asking questions. He would come and go on his own schedule and most people would leave him be. He had been fully welcomed into the community without reservations after a few years in the town, largely helped along by Garrow's acceptance, and he had come to enjoy the life he was able to live in Carvahall. However, if things went as he expected them to over the next few weeks, he would not be here much longer.

Brom's plans had been to take the Dragon Rider in a roundabout way to the Varden, but there were a few too many strong personalities and backroom politics that he hadn't wanted the Dragon Rider to be exposed to yet. The elves were almost as bad with their ability to say one thing and mean something different along with all their customs and such that made insulting one of them extremely easy to do for the unknowing visitor. Some of these things, Harry had already touched on, but there was still plenty more that could be done to help Eragon prepare for the burden that would soon be placed on his shoulders by others. Harry would do his best to help, but he also knew that the boy would have to learn to stand on his own.

Harry began packing his accumulated belongings into packs that had been magically expanded and lightened. He charmed the containers so no one else could look inside and see the true depths of the bag. A wooden trunk had been charmed to hold all of his tomes and then be able to shrink down to be no bigger than a matchbox. Non-perishable food items were also packed in and situated with his things so that he could be ready to leave at a moment's notice.

The morning following Eragon's return to his home, Harry heard a timid knock on his door. He opened it to find Eragon standing outside his door with a large satchel over his shoulder, the bag clutched closely to his chest. "I've found something, Uncle Harry." He stated with a slight quiver to his voice.

Harry stepped to the side and waved the boy in. "Well then, let's have a look, shall we?" Harry responded with a small smirk.

"I just got back from my hunting trip in the Spine." Eragon started. Harry could tell the boy was partially excited and hopeful, but also a little unsure about what he was going to say.

Deciding to let the boy slowly get to his point, Harry continued the small talk, "Yes, you had mentioned that before you left. How was it? Did you get anything?"

Eragon hesitated and then shook his head. "Not as far as hunting. I had laid out some traps but...I was a little distracted on my return and forgot to check them." Eragon blushed slightly and looked down.

Harry smirked a bit wider. "Oh? And what was it that distracted the mighty hunter so much as to make him forget the main reason he went out?"

Eragon looked at Harry for a few moments before looking at his satchel. "I don't know what it is, but I do know what I hope it is. When I first found it, I thought it was a stone, but, as I was making my way back, I looked at it in better lighting and..." Eragon reached into the satchel and pulled out a gorgeous, blue egg and Harry couldn't help the gasp that escaped from his lips.

Obviously, he had known what was in the satchel, what he hadn't known was that it was the same egg that had been smuggled from the King's lair by Brom and Jeod. Harry worried slightly for the egg carriers and why the egg had been sent in such a manner. Perhaps the elves had devised a phrasing of the Ancient Language that would send the egg? But then, there would be no trainer, no helper, for the rider as a baby dragon hatched in their lap. Nor would there have been a reason to act as though they were going to still ferry it to the Varden if they found a way to send it to the dragon rider.

He had never heard of anyone magically transporting anything using the Ancient Language, but it had dropped right next to Eragon and the egg responded immediately to his touch so that would be a realistic explanation. Perhaps the Varden feared that there was a spy in their ranks and wanted to secret the egg away. While he didn't feel any magic on the egg itself, the elves may have found a way to track where the egg went, it would be easy enough to practice such a task on a shorter distance basis. He would have to think over this and see if he could find a way to get a message to the Varden. Perhaps a visit to Jeod was in order. He would also wait to see if any elves showed up over the next two weeks. They would be able to travel from the Ellesmera in that amount of time without drawing attention to themselves.

However, once the dragon hatched, they would not be able to conceal it for long in Carvahall. Dragons did better when they had the room to roam and fly free anyways. It was the reason he had already started packing his belongings to be ready to leave at a moment's notice if the dragon gets discovered, now just to convince Garrow to let Eragon be ready to leave also...

Eragon took Harry's gasp and silence as a tentative confirmation. "So it is then? A dragon egg?" The boy's question bringing Harry back to the present.

Harry looked at the egg for a moment longer, pulling his thoughts back together fully. "Yes, it is a dragon egg. I would have thought you had seen enough in your favorite book to not have any doubt. How did you come across it?" Harry asked, since it would seem strange for him to not be interested or curious. Eragon eagerly jumped into the story and Harry gave the boy part of his attention while his thoughts wondered slightly about Arya and her companions.

He had been in Carvahall for nearly 15 years at this point, so it is possible the young elf had given up her position and righted things with her mother, but even though it had been two thirds of her current life, the 70 years that she had spent at odds with her mother was but a short time to an elf. There probably was not much of a chance at reconciliation in the immediate future unless the two were strongly encouraged to do so. Especially if it was Islanzadi that encouraged the new spells to be created, therefore removing the need for Arya to be the egg carrier. Brom was one of the few who could get the two to do one thing they didn't particularly want to, the other had been Islanzadi's husband, Arya's father, the late King of the Elves. Brom had spoken with both on a couple occasions, but neither were quite willing to broach the topic.

"...and there was the egg, in the middle of this big area of burned earth and trees." Eragon concluded.

"Very interesting, Eragon. Have you told anyone else about it?" Harry questioned and the boy shook his head vigorously. Harry nodded, "Good. This isn't something we want spread around. The longer we can keep this secret, the better it is for Carvahall. The better it is for your family. I will be out to the farm today to speak with Garrow. You and I will likely need to leave soon."

Eragon looked confused, " But it is just an egg, how could an egg cause problems?"

Harry chuckled, the boy hadn't put the pieces together yet, probably due to him not believing he could actually be a rider that he had read so many stories about. "The egg is not the problem, the dragon that will hatch from it, but on the other hand, is going to be a problem."

"The egg will hatch? But how do you know? Will it be for you?" His eyes lit up slightly. "Will it be for me?"

"The egg will hatch for you, the dragon within it has chosen you as it's rider. You see, I can sense things, as well as a few other abilities I have picked up over the years, some of those because of your father giving me his knowledge. I can sense the joy and acceptance from the dragon when you have touched the egg. The dragon knows your touch and is excited to hatch to see you. It will likely be a couple more days before the dragon hatches though, this egg has been in a deep sleep for a very long time."

Eragon looked down at the egg he held in his hands in wonder. "I will be a dragon rider."

"Yes, you will be, so we need to make sure you are learning and preparing. You have much to learn." Harry stated, standing and beginning to move towards some of the books he had purposefully not packed yet.

"But how will I learn? Your books have been great, but they are only story books of old dragon riders and what they accomplished. How can I take care of a dragon? Fighting I can do great at, but taking care of a dragon, learning how to ride a dragon?" Eragon set the dragon egg down and moved away from it slightly.

Harry laughed loudly. "Boy, you have a long way to go before you can say you are good at fighting. I may have shown you a thing or two while you were growing up, but you still have plenty of room for improvement. Most of the books you read through were the historical recordings of previous dragon riders. I have a few books and papers that I have acquired over the years of tendencies and general information for taking care of whelps and young dragonlings. Trust me, we will have you well prepared to take care of your dragon."

"How do you have all of this?" Eragon questioned. "I've asked you before and you always brush it off, but it almost seems like you were purposefully prepared to give away your knowledge of dragons." Eragon questioned in a rare moment of insight.

Harry slowly made his way back over to Eragon with the books in his hand. He set the books on the table near Eragon and settled into his chair. "Your father was a rider before the fall." Harry held up his hand to stall the questions he knew would be coming." Yes, the fall happened just over a hundred years ago, and no, I did not misspeak. Your father was nearing 130 years old, or somewhere in that vicinity when he was killed on his way here to get you from Garrow and raise you. He had been tasked to help train the next rider to overthrow Galbatorix and free the people of Alagaesia from the mad king's oppression. He sent his things on ahead of him and I arrived to put the house together and get everything ready for his, and your, arrival."

Eragon looked at him in shock. "What about my mother, was she a rider too?"

Harry shook his head, "No, she wasn't, but she would have loved to have returned to you if she could have."

"What happened to her? You've never told me any of this. Why?" Eragon asked, growing more frustrated with Harry.

"The reason I haven't told you any of this before is because Galbatorix is seeking to find this dragon egg, and he knows who stole it from him, he knows those that are involved. If I told you that your father had been a dragon rider, and you told that to someone with a lack of discretion, you, Garrow, and Roran would all be in very big danger. Your father stole an egg from Galbatorix. This very egg, in fact. This is why you must keep all of this a secret. If Galbatorix knew that you were the child of a rider, he would want to capture you and try to turn you to his side and try to get one of his other two eggs to hatch for you, or he would kill you.

"As for what happened to your mother. I am not entirely sure. It was supposed to be a fairly simple thing, she and Brom had returned to take away your half brother from the castle." Harry explained. From many personal experiences, on both sides of the coin, it was better for the truth to be laid bare when matters of such importance hung in the balance. Eragon would need time following this to assimilate all this new information into how he viewed the world, but it was better that he knew than to let him be surprised by other things down the road.

"I have a brother?" Eragon shouted in shock and disbelief. Harry could tell that the boy was close to a breaking point and so said nothing in response, letting Eragon sit in silence for a few moments as he gathered himself. "Where is he?"

Harry sighed softly. "Unfortunately, that is something I do not know. Brom came back without Selena, but all I knew was that Morzan was dead, and that Selena and the boy were not with him."

It was one of Brom's most painful and regretted memories, and one that he would never utter a word of to anyone. He had tried to dissuade Selena from getting her other son, wishing that she would leave her old life behind completely and just live with him and Eragon. She had resisted and ultimately entered the place that she had lived without Brom. Morzan had been made aware of hr betrayal and had tortured her severely until Brom finally arrived.

It was too late to save Selena, but seeing her in such a state drove him to quickly overcoming Morzan and killing the man, almost before he was aware that Brom had come as well. He was grieved at Selena's death, but felt that it was Morzan and the child's fault that she died. He heard the young boy crying in one of the rooms from the house, alerted to something happening by Selena's screams of pain, but Brom walked out of the house and left the city, and the orphaned child, behind.

It wasn't until Brom made it back home that the guilt fully crashed in on him. He left a four year old boy, parentless, in the den of the mad king, with no hope, and no one to take care of him. It was at that moment that he was spurned to quickly make his way toward Carvahall. It was his distraction and carelessness in his traveling that left him vulnerable to the ambush by the urgals.

Harry shook himself from Brom's memories and stood. "Come, gather your things, these books and the egg too, we should get you back home. You have much to think on, and then plenty more to start learning."

"Shouldn't I leave the egg here, I am not sure that I can find a place to hide it from Garrow and Roran." Eragon questioned, once more, a rare moment of clarity and insight. Harry had been proud of the way the boy was growing up, and he liked to think a fair amount of that was from his guidance and teachings.

"No, you must keep the egg close to you. The dragon has chosen you to be its rider, but keeping close to it will help you both become familiar to each other. Examine the egg closely whe you can. Memorize the lines in the shell, know the smallest details of the texture, let the color of the shell be ingrained into your mind. I want you to be able to close your eyes and see the egg just as perfectly as if your eyes were open." Harry instructed. Part of the idea was to help the boy learn to focus in on one single thing, because it was much easier to clear your mind of one thing, instead of a handful of things. This would help with Occlumency later on, and it would help the soon-to-be rider subconsciously be aware of his dragon and be able to learn to sense his dragon easier once it hatched.

The pair made their way back to Garrow's house and then Harry returned home.

* * *

It had been a couple of days since Harry and Eragon had last spoken, understandable as it was the end of the harvest season and Garrow was likely using every moment of the boy's free time to bring in the year's last harvest. Harry had been moving about his house when he once more felt a wave of powerful magic. He smirked to himself, feeling the joy and contentment that pervaded the flow of magic, and knew that the dragon had finally hatched.

Deciding to go to Garrow's house to see if he needed to calm things down, depending on where the dragon hatched, or run interference, he grabbed a bag and left his house. It only took a short time for him to walk to Garrow's home and he saw the man and his son already working the fields. He raised and arm to wave at them and made his way towards them, confident that they were unaware of the new resident within their home.

"Good day, friends!" Harry exclaimed once he was within hearing range. "Does that nephew of mine still take up space in his bed?"

Roran chuckled. "That is about all he does most days."

Garrow laughed also. "Don't be a brat, Roran. But yes, Harry, he is still in his room. He has been in there a little more than usual today, but he is usually more than happy to jump out here to help with the harvest when we need him, or if Roran feels like slacking off. More often than not, it is to go visit a certain young woman." He joked at Roran.

Harry laughed in response to the playful jabs at Eragon's cousin as the young man blushed and Harry nodded towards the house. "I had a couple things I needed to talk to Eragon about, and after we finish up, I can stick around to help out if you would like. I am getting a bit bored at the house."

Garrow scoffed slightly, "If you are getting bored, we definitely need to find something to keep you occupied, I don't think Horst's son has been quite the same since you played that prank on him and his friend a couple weeks ago."

Harry grinned softly and shrugged, "I am sure he will get over it eventually, Horst on the other hand, is still a bit upset with me because his son's friend broke one of his tools trying to kill the 'snake' I left for them." Roran snickered and Harry tried to defend himself "I still say that the tool must have been in pretty bad shape to break so easily."

Harry left the two as they chuckled and went inside the house and to Eragon's room. He stopped and knocked on the door. Inside, Harry could hear a quiet curse and quick shuffling movements.

"Just a second!" Eragon said, his anxiety clear in his voice.

Harry chuckled softly, "I take it that means that the egg has hatched then?"

All sounds within the room stopped immediately and Harry heard Eragon creep over to the door and he opened it slowly and only a sliver to look out. "Uncle Harry? Are you alone?" Eragon whispered.

"No, I already told your uncle and cousin about you becoming a dragon rider. Of course I'm alone." Harry smirked to Eragon receiving a huff in reply. The door swung open a bit more and Harry slipped inside the room, almost immediately being hit in the shins by a blue mass which caused him to stumble back into the now closed door.

Harry smirked down at the hatchling and bent down to scratch the point that the head joined to the neck. "Well now, aren't you a rambunctious little one." Harry stated amusedly. He looked over the newly hatched dragon and took in her appearance, checking over all the information he could gather from her appearance. "She will be a wonderful flier. Her build and wing structure, while looking adolescent now, will develop nicely. As she gets out of her first month of being hatched we will want to have her start gliding short distances to help her get a head start on building up muscles and preparing for our trip."

"Our trip?" Eragon asked confusedly.

"Yes, unfortunately we will need to be moving from here. While she can be easily hidden now and can't fly high enough to make it above the trees in the Spine to be noticed, at a certain point, we will have to move much further into the Spine to hide her existence, deep enough that we won't have time to make a return trip." Harry explained.

It wasn't entirely truthful as Harry was able to easily apparate back to Carvahall if needed, but he wasn't going to be sharing that part of his abilities with the boy yet. It was a benefit for Harry being the one to be training Eragon instead of Brom or anyone else from this world as Harry was able to keep in contact and stay up to date on what all was happening around the cities under Galbatorix's control or within striking range.

Harry would be able to quickly drop into the major cities and get the most recent gossip and information about troop movements, uprisings, and other general information for Alagaësia. Brom would have to be moving quickly from one town to the next with some space in between to make sure he wasn't missing any vital information. If that had been the case, Harry would have been forced to wait until the dragon was older and able to travel at least as much as a horse in a single day and they would have been working to make as much progress as they could while still trying to get as much training done as possible while on the move.

"What about Garrow, and Roran?" Eragon questioned, frustration and worry evident in his voice. "If we go now, would we have time to come back to help with getting the fields ready after the winter? We are still in the process of finishing up this harvest even, I can't leave them to do everything alone, it will take them much longer and some may even spoil before then." Eragon argued.

Harry held up his hands, "We aren't leaving today, or likely even before the end of the month, but before winter fully settles in for sure. This egg was highly sought after by the king and his men, he is very knowledgeable in the Ancient Language and is likely workin to figure out a way to track it down. Brom was known to have been heading this direction last, he may send some spies or even military members here to ask questions and look for clues. The longer we are gone, the colder our trail is."

"We will need to find a place in the Spine for now for your dragon to hide as she grows." Harry stated after a few moments of silence. He looked down as she gave a growl. "My apologies little one, we have not been introduced yet, my name is Harry."

The dragon gave a garbled cooing noise in response and he felt a sense of warmth and joy mentally from the dragon. He smiled down at her and turned to Eragon. "So have you named her yet?"

Eragon shook his head somberly. "She only just hatched. I don't even know where you would start."

Harry snorted slightly and nodded, "It can be a challenge, but let me encourage you, whatever you come up with, make sure she likes it."

The dragon nodded emphatically in response to Harry's words.

"How do you even know that it is a she?" Eragon questioned incredulously.

Harry gave a short laugh and shook his head. "An unofficial uncle I may be, but if you don't know the differences between male and female yet, I'll leave it alone for Garrow." Eragon blushed in response. "Honestly though, Eragon, this is one of the things that I taught you while you were doing all your reading, even without checking physically, you should be able to know by the feeling of her mind at the very least."

Eragon blushed once more and nodded, agreeing, "Now that you mention it, I guess I can tell that it has a feminine tone to it. Well, what are some good, female dragon names?"

Harry worked through a list of names that came to his mind and he rattled them off rather quickly until he felt a tug on his pants and looked down. "Really? You want Jade? That doesn't seem to fit you quite right." Harry joked. Harry yelped at the sharp teeth that nipped at his fingers in response to his playfulness.

"I think she wanted Saphira." Eragon stated with a smirk at Harry shaking his hand gently.

Harry nodded solemnly and Eragon noticed and asked about it. "While the name does perfectly suit her, it is who had the name previously that is so important. You see, I told you that your father had been a rider during his life. What I didn't tell you is that the name of his dragon, the one that gave her life to keep him safe, was Saphira."

Eragon and the newly named Saphira sat in silence as they took in the new knowledge. A heaviness seemed to settle over the two for a few moments before Eragon's face set in determination and he looked up to Harry confidently. "well then, that just means that both Saphira and I will have to do our best to live up to the names of those who have gone before us. Though hopefully she will never give her life for mine," He looked down at the small dragon that was barely the size of a medium sized dog, "Even though she just hatched, I feel like there had been a part of myself that had been missing that I never even knew was gone."

The small dragon chirruped and jumped into his lap and curled up contentedly. Harry smiled wistfully at the sight, knowing the feeling from Brom's memories, and he too swore to himself to make sure the pair were trained up, both Dragon and Rider, to be the absolute best they could be.

* * *

The end of fall came quickly and Harry had been spending more time with Garrow, Roran, and Eragon as they finished harvesting and prepared for the cold winter. Roran was planning to leave before the cold began to settle in and Harry had been working on Garrow to move along with his son. Harry knew at some point that Eragon's identity would be found out and as soon as that happened, Carvahall and those who were close to Eragon would become large targets.

Knowing that Galbatorix and all his forces would be hunting them to try and make them submit to his orders by threatening their other half was enough to set Eragon and Saphira strongly against the mad king, and Harry didn't want him to lose any family and set him on the path for revenge. Such reasons only drove men to an end of madness and regret. Garrow was slowly being talked into it, but Carvahall was all the man had ever known. For generations, his family had been part of the community and while he would never admit it, Harry knew that a part of the man feared leaving the comfortable, safe, and known area.

If the man still failed to make the decision to go by the time Harry and Eragon moved into the Spine, he would leave a more detailed letter, obviously spelled so that only Garrow would be able to read it, that would give the true reasons that Harry was working to subtly encourage the man to move after all this time.

Harry made his way through the thick underbrush of the Spine and he heard the calls of a young dragon that, were you not aware of the sound, you would have brushed it off as just another animal in the wild. Finally arriving at the large wall of brambles, he ducked into the well disguised entrance to the small clearing held within the large ring of brambles. Harry had worked to coax the underbrush to gather up in such a manner, keeping the clearing well hidden within, yet still allowing plenty of room for the young dragon to run around, practice short glides, and generally build up strength.

Hearing his entrance, Saphira leaped and bounded her way over to him joyfully and she sent him a mental picture of the two of them going around the small cleared out area. Harry called a magical mist to his body and lifted easily off the ground. It was something that had gained more popularity after the fall of Voldemort and while it wasn't the best for quick travel or the most discrete, there was a fun factor to it. It was fun to bale to fly on your own, without a broom getting in the way.

It was a skill that only Saphira knew about and had been requested to keep quiet on, since he still kept all of his own personal forms of magic secret from the young rider. He would soon be broaching that subject though, especially one he and the boy got away from the town and others to really begin their training. Some things had already taken a slight turn of how Harry was working with Eragon; a number of books with tips on reading body launguage and being a good communicator and debater finding their way into the boy's hands for help with political situations.

Harry spent a couple hours 'playing' with Saphira while Eragon was working to keep up the appearance that all was still normal around Garrow and Roran. The young dragon was showing some good growth and her strength and stamina were increasing at a wonderful pace. Harry was glad he was able to have so much input on the food that Saphira was given and how often. It helped that he was able to provide most of it himself. He couldn't imagine Eragon trying to keep her fed well enough and with the proper items without drawing attention to Garrow or any of the other townspeople.

She was able to get all the fat and protein that her quickly growing body needed, and she was able to slip out of the bramble wall easily enough to hunt on her own, though usually Harry tried to keep a close eye on her. Urgals had already been spotted in the Spine more than once and he had no desire to see the young whelp be captured and hurt to get Eragon to comply with anything. While he had no proof, there was an itch in the back of his mind saying that there had to be some connection between the Urgals and the king. He wasn't sure why, but it felt like they were being led around by the nose. He simply didn't understand how.

Promising to return at a later time, Harry apparated back home and was greeted by a quick knock on his door. Upon opening the door he found Horst standing there, "Good day, Harry. Hope I am not interrupting you on anything?" He stated questioningly.

Harry gave an easy smile, "Nothing of too great importance, Horst. You know me, a nap here, a little smoking there. I lead a very interesting life you know. " He said with a quick wink to one of the major leaders in the village. Horst chuckled at the banter they had been carrying on for a few years. Harry always said it as a joke, but Horst knew that the man hardly slowed. He was always moving or had his nose in a book to prepare to go do something.

"Anyways. Wanted to let you know we have had word from the traders that they are only a few weeks behind the messenger they sent ahead. I was wondering if you have my tool finished yet? I have one or two more pieces that I still have to finish up before they get here." Horst explained,

"Ah, yes, the one your son's friend broke. I promise, I had no part in this one. I think you may need to ban the boy from entering there. Or ban your son from hanging out with him. It's a good thing I like you and don't charge anything or you would be out on the streets for all the fixing I do for you." Harry chuckled at the memory of how angry Horst had first been when he brought the tool over. "Has that young man stopped shaking every time he gets to within ten feet of you or has his fear of you stayed around still?"

Horst gave a hearty laugh and leaned against the door post as Harry moved through the various stacks of books, parchment, and other odds and ends that seemed to be piled to the ceiling. "No, he doesn't squeak any more when I talk to him. I'm slightly sad that it is gone, it was fun to sneak up on him and talk loudly to someone around him. I even had a few people who would keep him occupied if they were around him so I could sneak up. He has been particularly irritating with the different tools he has managed to break though. I am amazed at how he manages to break some of them."

Harry chuckled as he grabbed the tool he had fixed for the man and handed it over. "Well he definitely did a number on this one. I am almost enjoying seeing all the different ways he breaks things just so I can try to fix them again."

"Well, looks better than when I first got it. Thanks again Harry, I don't know what we would have done without your ability to fix seemingly anything we need." He raised the tool Harry had given him and shook it slightly in his hand while continuing. "I really do appreciate it. As for now, I must return to my work." With that Horst turned and walked back the direction his shop was located in. Harry smiled softly and shook his head. Horst was one of those people that you wanted to be on his good side. Even with Harry being trained in many forms of fighting, magical and mundane, he still didn't want to get on Horst's bad side if he could help it.

* * *

Harry walked out to Garrow's to see Roran and Garrow off. Katrina was going to join up with the pair on their way out of Carvahall. It had been an interesting few days following her telling her father that she had been proposed to and was planning to leave with Roran to the next town. There had been a number of shouting matches and Garrow gave Roran a strong talking to about not asking Katrina's father for permission before opening his mouth, but the damage was done and there was no way to go back.

Katrina and her father had finally calmed down and had discussed things fully, that being the only reason that Garrow and Roran had waited as long as they had, and Roran had gone and apologized to the man for not asking his permission first. In the end he left with Sloan's blessing, sporting a black eye and a massive smile. Katrina was frustrated about it, but Garrow informed her that Roran deserved it and to not be upset with her father. Roran agreeing fully calmed the fiery woman down.

The start of winter rested right before them and Harry had already made a number of trips into the Spine to ensure that there was a good campsite set up for himself, Eragon, and Saphira so that they wouldn't be struggling against the harsh weather to set up a camp and get settled in. He already had settled his training plan for the pair and he and Eragon would be accompanying Garrow, Roran, and Katrina out of the town together to help try and lose any trails that may come looking. Harry had no doubt that Galbatorix would be sending someone out to look for the egg in their area at some point.

With everyone finally all gathered, Harry followed the group down the path and through the town, quietly adding comments here and there in response to questions asked and comments made. It was a group with mixed emotions. Roran and Katrina were excited to start their new life while Garrow was sad to be leaving the main life he had ever known behind. Eragon was excited and anxious for what training plans Harry had for him and Harry was content, though very ready for the group to be past the town and disappearing into the hustle and bustle of larger towns.

Harry had left a letter for Horst with a ring that Harry explained was charmed to not break unless Horst needed it to. If the ring broke, it would alert Harry that he was needed and he would do his best to give any and all help that he possibly could. There was a feeling building on the edge of his awareness that his magic was constantly attuned to that gave him a bad feeling and he wanted to be ready for any and all eventualities.

It was as they were leaving the outer edge of Carvahall that the group came across two travelers. The pair stopped the group and in a hissing voice asked where Carvahall was located. Harry silently gave a sigh of relief that he had followed his gut feeling to place various wards over himself and Eragon like scent wards and magic concealing wards before they left.

The Ra'zac, for that is what the cloaked 'travelers' were, had amazing senses that would allow them to find and track their targets. There were no further questions after Garrow pointed back in the direction they were coming from and mentioned that it was only a half hour's walk down the road from where they were at and the pair brushed past the group quickly and silently.

Harry let an audible sigh escape his lips after the Ra'zac were a good distance down the road. "They are the reason I was encouraging that we leave when we did." Harry stated simply.

Roran looked over at Harry, "What were those things? I caught a glimpse of...something under their hood. Their voice didn't sound human either..." Katrina had drawn herself closer to Roran when the Ra'zac had stopped and spoke with them and shuddered at the mention of their voice.

Harry gave a look towards the now hard to see figures as they continued down the road towards Carvahall. "Those were Ra'zac, monsters of darkness. They have senses that are unparalleled, even more so when in the cover of darkness. Once they mature, the transform into monsters capable of flight called lethrblaka. They are beings in the service of Galbatorix."

Harry paused for a moment and had to think of a possible response for their presence. It needed to be something somewhat close to the truth. "I am surprised they took so long to travel here. Brom was known to be heading this direction among some of his associates and he had been a very large problem for Galbatorix for a great many years. They are likely seeking out information on him and his movements."

"But Brom has been dead for fifteen years…?" Eragon questioned softly.

"True, he has been. But just because we know that, does not mean that Carvahall knew that, or that anyone outside of this area knows of it." Harry replied.

"Wait, no one else knows that Brom has died?" Garrow asked heatedly. "Did he not have friends and family that you needed to inform outside of just us?"

Harry nodded. "He did have some friends. All of them are a great distance from us, the closest being a week or two of travel at the least, the others being a nearer to a month. You also have to understand that he had been imposing a kind of self-exile on himself in a way. His being dead or alive made no direct impact on them at the time. However, I will be writing to each of them to inform them or telling them in person myself over the next few months.

"He had charged me with continuing his task and so I mean to. The task was always going to be completed by at least two people, which is why I have requested that Eragon join me for it. I felt that with him being Brom's son, it was just the right thing to do. It may sound harsh, but them learning of his death fifteen years later is no more of an impact than it would have been if they had learned of it the day it happened. They would actually potentially cause problems since I am unsure if they would allow me to help complete the task as Brom requested me to. That is an issue because he explained how it needed to be done, where as they would have been forced to make it up on the spot and could have caused more problems than they solved." Harry explained.

Garrow narrowed his eyes slightly and looked closely between Harry and Eragon. "What is this task that you are planning on doing? It feels as though you are being purposefully silent on the exact details."

"Unfortunately, I am. It is not because you are ot trusted, I assure you, Garrow. I am not being blunt about what we hope to accomplish so as to help you not struggle to keep things secret that are best left in the dark for the moment. The moment things are brought to light, I promise I will explain more." Harry replied easily, knowing that it would be little to no comfort to the man.

He had asked Garrow to trust him with Eragon's life and wellbeing by requesting that Eragon be allowed to join him on this task, and now he wasn't giving information as to the task that was going to be done. It would come across as suspicious and untrustworthy and Harry could understand that. The problem was that if even a whisper was breathed in the wrong company that they knew that a boy was being trained to become a Dragon Rider, it didn't matter if they didn't know where, or who, or any other important information, they would be tortured and ultimately killed by Galbatorix and those under him to try and get any information out of them.

"Garrow, I promise you that the next time we see you, I will explain everything to you, though depending on how things go between now and then, I may not have to explain much." Trying to make plans on the fly that would be able to last through the next four to six months of uncertainty and attempting to keep their actions secret, Harry decided to give the man some small amount of info. "I plan to have Eragon and myself in Daret within six months, about the time that spring has fully arrived and settled in. If you desire to meet us there and I will explain more at that time."

"Six months? What kind of task could possibly take six months?" Roran asked.

Harry didn't respond with more than an apologetic smile. He turned to Eragon. "Say your farewells. Having been seen on the road with them after the town, we should be free to depart to our true destination without drawing much attention from others. We must get settled in before nightfall."

Harry gave a bow and a final apology to Garrow for being tight lipped. The older looking man scowled at him briefly before sighing and moving over to hug Harry. Slightly shocked, he took a moment to react and returned the hug tentatively. "You have become like family to me as well over the years, Harry. Keep the both of you safe so that you can tell me all about the insane things that you two have gotten up to. I shudder to think of the world at the mercy of you and Eragon. I am honestly surprised some days that Carvahall still stands as unaffected today as it is."

Harry chuckled as he moved back from the hug. "I will keep us both safe and make sure that you get to hear many stories for many years to come still." Harry moved over to Roran and shook his hand, slipping a small bag of gold coins into his hand.

He pulled the young man into a hug as a cover to whisper in his ear. "Keep it hidden if you must, but treat yourself and Katrina from time to time. Garrow won't accept it and I know you wouldn't for yourself, but this is for you and Katrina and is also another form of apology from tearing you both from your homes, even if you were planning to leave already. Just take it." Harry pulled back and disengaged from the young man quickly to stop any attempts at handing back the bag. Roran huffed and Harry smirked. "Don't huff at me, kid. You aren't some moody child any longer. Oh, wait, sometimes you still are actually."

Roran reached out and jokingly punched Harry on the arm before swinging his arm around Katrina once more. Harry looked over at her and gave a small bow, grabbing her hand and placing a light kiss on the back of it. "My lady, take care of these two fine men and don't let the scoundrel's hands wander too much. Not till he gets a nice shiny thing on that finger at least." Harry gave a small wink and the pair blushed deeply causing Harry to chuckle lightly.

Eragon had finished his farewells at roughly the same time and stepped back with a small look of longing at the trio. Harry knew that the separation was going to be almost as tough on the boy as the training he planned to put him through would be. Harry patted Eragon on the shoulder gently and the boy looked to him with a readiness and acceptance that Harry was proud to see from him.

"We will see you three in roughly six months, give or take a week or two depending on how events come together. If you are not in Daret, We will make sure to track you down so that we can talk. I know that won't give you a large amount of time to find a job as you planned to, but keeping things free and mostly disengaged is probably a pretty smart idea right now. You are going to be stepping into a changing world and it isn't the most safe, even in the towns."

Harry reached over to the horses that he had brought with him and handed over a small dagger, a sword, and a heavy looking hammer. The dagger was given to Katrina who took it with wide eyes and a small amount of fear. The sword was handed to Garrow who looked at it with a sense of foreboding and resignation. The hammer was handed to Roran who looked at it in curiosity.

"Katrina, as much as I wish it weren't so, you may be forced to defend yourself at some time. You have Roran and Garrow with you, so it shouldn't be a large worry, but make sure that you remember to be courageous and act if no one else can for you." Harry stated softly. He turned to Garrow but saw that he didn't need to speak anything. There had been an increase in reports from travellers and messengers that there were more attacks happening on the roads between towns and cities. While he hoped that ran into no issues, he couldn't be positive.

The weapons would help with that some as he had warded each to encourage those with ill motives to be dissuaded from coming too near. It was the most that he could do at the time and still remain as unnoticed as possible. Harry finally turned to Roran.

"A hammer?" Roran asked, causing Eragon to snort in amusement.

"I have watched you and Eragon beat each other with sticks for many years now. Helped you both get better at it to in fact. You never really seemed to connect with the longer weapon, but I have no doubt that you can put that to use. It is something familiar to you, having grown up doing hard work with Garrow, and it is something that will be overlooked, unlike Garrow's sword. You can often accomplish just as much, sometimes more, by being subtle as you can by having more knowledge, training and force."

Roran paused for a moment before nodding in contemplation. Harry sighed, "I hope that you have no need of them in your travels, but I wanted you prepared all the same. Now, I wish you fair travels and a speedy arrival to your destination. We must all be off."

Garrow gave a final nod and handshake to both Harry and Eragon, mimicked by Roran, and a hug for both from Katrina and then the trio turned and continued down the road to the next town. Harry and Eragon stood and watched as they left. Eragon shuffled from one foot to the other a number of times before finally turning to Harry and looking at him confusedly.

"Are we just going to stand here? I thought that we were wanting to get the camp set up tonight before it gets dark." He questioned.

Harry smirked. "The camp is already set up and Saphira is heading there to meet us, if she isn't there already and waiting for us. I was wondering how long you would be able to wait patiently before you asked a question about leaving or doing something other than just standing" Harry turned to one side of the road and started walking into the brush and woods that lined the road.

Having known they would be spending time deep within the trees and hills of the Spine, Eragon shrugged but followed along without question.


	3. Chapter 3

The trip to their camping site took them nearly the rest of the day to hike to. Once they arrived, Eragon looked around appreciatively. "Most people don't travel this far into the Spine. I've heard that it can be dangerous out here."

Harry chuckled in response. "It certainly can be dangerous, but what better way to learn? As for most people not traveling this deeply into the Spine, since when have you ever known me to be like most people?"

Eragon laughed and nodded agreeingly. "You are definitely different than most people I've met, Uncle Harry."

Harry nodded. "We will be training you in many different things over the next couple months. We are to meet up with your family in about six months, so that gives us about four months of uninterrupted training and two months of traveling while training. I want you to have a good knowledge of history, politics, and strategy before we start moving again, but we will also be adding in a few other areas of study. Also, we will be working to stretch your physical capabilities and continue to refine your fighting abilities. I'll discuss more later, but for right now, you need to know and understand something.

"My name is Harry Potter and while I am not your official uncle, as I have told you some years ago, I am also not from this world. I am a traveler and I am not to make a massive impact on how things play out on this world. I will help you learn and prepare to the best of my abilities, but I will not fight your battles for you and tell you to not worry and that someone else will take your place.

"You are going to be looked to for guidance, leadership, and to be the one to make tough decisions. I know you are able to do this and that you are able to take responsibility and try to make things right if you mess something up. Fair warning no, you will mess up, it is something that is refreshing about being a living, thinking, deciding creature, mistakes will be made. There is not a single being alive on this world that will be able to die without having made at least one mistake.

"It will be more difficult on you however, since you are going to ultimately be forced to make a decision that could affect people's lives, or even lead to their death." Harry looked at Eragon seriously and was relieved to notice that the boy was taking the conversation seriously and was looking to be worried and scared of such a big responsibility being placed on his shoulders

"I don't know if I am up for that. I don't even like taking care of my chores sometimes. Making choices that could lead to other people dying? I don't know if I can handle that. Why does it have to be me?" Eragon questioned frantically.

Harry looked at him with a confident look that was tinged with sadness that he was the one to tell the boy that his life was going to be much more difficult. He took heart in the fact that at least Eragon had someone to help him prepare and be given some help and advice on how to navigate his coming responsibilities, but he hated being part of the situation that was stealing the youth and naïveté of one who shouldn't be forced to handle such things.

"You will be the next leader of the Dragon Riders. There is no other that can step into that role. You and Saphira are the last two, free Dragon Riders. That means that you are able to decide how the Riders are built up and trained and how they will help govern, but it also means that the decisions you make will have far reaching consequences. I will be here to help you as much as I can however and you are welcome to ask me anything you would like." Harry offered with a small smile.

"I was once in your shoes, but I was left to try and figure it out on my own without any help and I cannot tell you how many mistakes I made. One of which led to the death of a man that was similar to what I am to you, an unofficial uncle, more or less. I had little training, almost no preparation, and I didn't even have directions on what needed to be done or how. I only knew that there was a man that wanted to kill me and that I was the only one that could find a way to kill him.

"We are going to get you ready as well as we can, and even if I can't do much overtly to help you right now or even take this problem off your hands, I will be alongside you or able to be contacted by you for a while if you need help or advice. You must learn to lead, though. It is what you will ultimately be required to do." Harry explained softly.

"And what if I don't want to?" Eragon questioned, frustration clear and evident in his voice. "What if I want to just jump on Saphira's once she is strong enough and fly off to find new lands and people and just enjoy my life?"

Harry smirked slightly at the teenager's response and shook his head. "I've seen you grow up. I know your heart, how you respond and see things. Can you truly tell me that you could take a look at what Galbatorix is doing to the world around you and turn away just to enjoy your own life?" Harry questioned, not needing Eragon to verbalize an answer, as he already knew it. "You could no more up and leave the people of Alagaësia than I could leave you to try and discover what you need on your own. It isn't within us to turn a blind eye."

Eragon looked at Harry for a few moments before lowering his gaze and nodding slightly. "It also doesn't help that, according to you, Galbatorix will come after Saphira and I no matter what. I have no desire to be on the run for the rest of my life because of him, nor do I wish that on anyone else."

Harry nodded knowingly. "Just because those seem like the only options, doesn't mean that you have no other possible routes to take. We can get into that more later though after you get your feet under you and we make more progress."

Eragon stayed silent for a few minutes before looking up. "Why haven't you told me more of this while I was growing up. You are from a different world?"

Harry chuckled softly. "We can also get into all that more at a later time, I have my own things that I want to teach you outside of the normal Rider information after all. Things that no one on this world has seen before. As for your other question, I didn't tell you anything about my origins because you didn't really need to know. If you had never found Saphira's egg, if she hadn't hatched for you, if Galbatorix never knew that you were Brom's son, you would never need to know that I was from a different world until you were much older or if I felt the call for me to move to the next world."

"The need to move? You mean you will have to leave again?" Eragon asked.

Harry looked at him with an odd expression for a moment and looked to almost say something but hesitated. "That is how it has been since I turned 26, after I completed what needed to be done on my original world and got it where it could be left to run as it was designed to."

"Wait, you still look the same as you did from when I first met you, but I've known you for over a decade. How is that? How old are you?" Eragon questioned with a small amount of wonder and confusion.

Harry chuckled and waved off his questions. "We can talk more of that later, for now, make sure Saphira knows where we are, even though she had been tracking us during our walk with your family and the hike out here. Nothing has been near us that would cause her problems, so she should be fine, but I am not sure that she knows exactly where we are currently. She still hasn't gotten strong enough to sustain flight above the trees."

Eragon looked like he wanted to continue the conversation and ask more questions, but ended up nodding and closing his eyes. It had been one of the many things Harry had encouraged the young rider to begin practicing, following up his exercises to memorize everything about the egg. They would be starting Occlumency training the next day and then Harry would move into the physical training before having a Eragon do more Occlumency training. The sooner the boy was able to get down that mental discipline, the more quickly he would be able to learn and retain new information.

Harry moved over to the two tents he had set up and quickly ducked into his. He had set up a normal tent for Eragon since he did not intend to share the full extent of his magical knowledge and abilities yet, but his own tent was a wizard's tent with a number of rooms added into the expanded space. He had been working to combine his normal potions knowledge with the new fauna and beings on Alagaësia, much like he had been doing when he had time on other worlds and times that he had been in.

He quickly checked on the potions before slipping back outside and looking in on Eragon and the newly arrived Saphira. Saphira was hopping around the camp in excitement. He could feel that she was communicating with Eragon rapidly and Harry smiled gently at seeing a being that was so often seen as an ancient and respectable creature acting her very young age.

Once Harry drew close enough, Eragon noticed his approach and smirked at Harry. "Saphira, at least, approves of your selection of location. She loves how surrounded this place is in nature, whereas the small clearing I had taken her to initially was still somewhat close to Garrow's farm. Too close for her liking. I mentioned that we are here because you wanted her to be able to fly without being worried about being seen and she got even more excited. She wants to take off as soon as possible. I did get her to agree to wait until you said that it was okay for her to do so."

Harry smirked over at Saphira. "Well then, little one, what are you waiting for? Just make sure you don't get too far out, okay?"

Saphira nodded and with a soft growl, launched into the air, beating her wings hard to gain altitude. She made it a couple dozen feet off the ground before she glided towards the ground, weaving around various trees that bordered the campsite. Eragon gave a small chuckle at the short flight and got a draconic glare in response. Eragon raised his hands defensively and Harry chuckled. When the glare got turned on him, he shrugged and looked at Eragon. "While you might not think that it is much, Eragon, you should be very proud of her. She has been working hard to get that much strength in her muscles. For one as young as her, it is a very rare thing for them to be able to fly even that far. Been slightly bored, little one?"

"Just because I'm currently smaller than you does not mean that you get to call me little one." Saphira spoke defensively into the minds of Harry and Eragon.

Harry chuckled, "I am sure you will return the favor before too long. You are growing quickly, and your body's natural magic will respond to you working to stress and stretch it to get stronger and will grow faster for you. The more you work your body and muscles, the better it will be for you because you won't still be trying to adjust to your new size for a while after you've gotten it. The better you know and learn your body as you get bigger, the better off you will be. There was a correlation between dragons that grew slowly having weaker or lazier riders and dragons that grew more quickly with riders that progressed and learned and grew stronger more quickly.

"While the leaders of the Riders used to think that it was coincidence that some dragon and rider pairs were weaker beings were paired together, I believe it is more along the lines of the magic of the pact between dragons, elves, and men that is working to keep the two on the same level of growth so there is no frustration or impatience with one half or the other." Harry looked between the two seriously. "What this means is that I need both of you working your hardest to be able to realize your full potential and to progress as quickly as possible.

"Saphira, once you build up more of your flight muscles, I will start having you carrying various things while you fly to help you get ready to have Eragon riding you. That is still a ways off, and I don't want you to start trying that until I tell you so that you don't accidentally hurt yourself. Eragon, while you and I have been working together for the majority of your life on you learning different things and more recently helping you get ready for using a sword, you will have much more training to go. I can promise you that you will be physically tired by the end of the day every day except for one or two days a week that we give your body to rest. Those days, your mind will be tired from all the learning I will have you doing."

Eragon looked sligthly worried about Harry's promise, but his face set in a determined expression and nodded. Harry could feel that Saphira felt that Harry was holding her back a bit by not allowing her to start carrying things yet, but also knew that he was very good at helping her get stronger, her mind thinking of the times they 'played' in the small clearing he had made for her.

"For tonight, get yourselves settled in and get some rest. Tomorrow we will be taking a little easier physically, Eragon. I will have you starting on a practice called Occlumency. It is where you protect your mind magically from others being able to get in. Saphira, we will have you doing the same, even though your side is going to be a bit easier with your draconic mind already acting as a protection.

"You both are going to be protecting your minds separately and jointly and will need to work together on how that is going be accomplished. Don't worry overly much about it tonight as I will explain more in the morning. If you need anything, tap on the entrance to my tent and I will come out to answer you. Before I turn in, I am going to check on all the wards I put in place and make sure that they are brought up to full power now that we have arrived."

"Wards?" Eragon questioned.

"Yes. They are magical protections that will keep our camp safe from intruders or those who may be looking for something or someone. With the various Urgal sightings and attacks, I do not want us to be left unprotected while we sleep or if we are tired from a day of training." Harry explained.

"You can do magic?" Eragon asked with wonder. Harry chuckled.

"There have been a number of things that I have done over the years that have seemed to be an impossible task, have you not noticed?" Harry asked in return. Eragon gave a noncommittal nod and shrug but had interest still clear on his face. "It is not something I use very openly as many people, especially in a small town like Carvahall, are suspicious and distrusting of magic users. I am able to perform some magic, however, and at a later point, you will be able to as well. I ask you not to try right now because your body and mind is not prepared for it yet. We will get there though."

Eragon frowned slightly. "I think that I would be able to handle it just fine right now."

Harry scowled in response. "This impetuousness of youth will only cause you and your dragon pain and will slow you down. If I tell you not to attempt or consider attempting something yet, it is not because I think you incapable or that I am trying to hold you back, I am trying to keep you safe. Even skilled magicians have killed themselves trying to accomplish something with magic that they thought themselves ready for or that they had considered all the angles. If you die, you kill Saphira. While you could live on if she dies, she cannot. If not for your own safety, at least heed my warnings and boundaries for her sake.

"Let me try and give an example to you what magic does." Harry stated seriously, trying to communicate the importance of Eragon listening to him on this subject. He spoke the Ancient Language word for air and a gust of wind swept through the camp, kicking up dust and leaves from the ground. Eragon took a slight step back to steady himself against the strong gust. "That was magic, however, I want you to try and accomplish the exact same result based on only what your body is physically able to accomplish. Whether that is you waving your arms, or you blowing breath from your mouth, or however you want to try and accomplish it physically."

Eragon looked at him in disbelief. "That is impossible."

Harry nodded in confirmation. "Is there another way that you personally could accomplish that task without any help?"

Eragon looked confused for a moment, "With magic?"

Harry shook his head, "That doesn't work. Any other guesses?"

Eragon thought long and hard for a few moments before shaking his head. "How could I do it?"

Harry gave a small smile. "I won't explain it right now, but with you saying that it is not possible, it is something you will need to learn and understand before you attempt it. If you were to try and use magic to cause a gust of wind like that, the magic would try and take the energy needed from you to bring it into existence. You claim it is impossible and because you do not know of a way to make it possible, the magic would kill you because you attempted something that you don't have a way to follow through with. Does that make sense?" Harry asked.

Eragon nodded slowly but got another confused look on his face. "If it is impossible, how are you not dead?"

"Because I know of a way to create that kind of wind without it taxing myself to the point of death. I have studied and have worked to know how to accomplish various goals with the least amount of effort possible. Your father, being a Dragon Rider, was able to perform magic as well and actually had learned many ways to perform great feats of magic with the least amount of energy needed. He was truly a brilliant man."

Harry shook himself slightly and looked closely at Eragon to ensure the young man heard and heeded his words. "I will explain more as you grow stronger and learn more, but we have to get your stamina and strength up before you can attempt anything like that. The exact same reason that Saphira is not allowed to try and carry things while she flies yet, I do not want either of you to hurt the other or yourselves. Trust me when I say that I will be working to push you as much as is possible in a healthy way. If I say that you are not ready yet, then you are not ready yet." Harry stated with a tone of finality.

Eragon blustered slightly at his tone but then remembered all the times that Harry would let him explore something new or taught him something new where he had gotten hurt, but had been right there alongside of him to help him recover or learn from the problem. Harry did allow him to learn and grow and had taught him a great deal of things that even Garrow had not wanted him to learn. He remembered that one of the times that he had gone out for a hunting trip without telling anyone and without permission, even after both Harry and Garrow had told him not to.

He and Harry had been out a number of times together and he felt that he knew enough to go on his own. He had been walking through the Spine and was setting traps when he got spooked by a sound and lost his footing. As he was trying to catch himself, he twisted his ankle badly and tried to catch himself with his hand that gave a sharp crack as it buckled under his weight. He had cried out in pain and tried to curl the two injured appendages towards himself to try and find a way to stop the pain.

He had no way to stand up or even walk with the pain in the wrist and ankle, and he knew that since no one knew where he was at and it was extremely early in the morning, he would potentially be left on the ground, in the Spine, without protection for three or four more hours before his family or Harry were even awake. It would take them even longer after that to make it into the Spine to find him.

Eragon had tears in his eyes from the pain and from his fears of something coming along before then and attacking him. His bow lay beside him useless because of the pain in his wrist, and he couldn't easily roll himself over due to the pain to reach his small skinning knife that he carried everywhere with him since Harry had given it to him.

It had seemed like he had laid there for nearly an hour, though in truth was only ten minutes, before something came walking through the underbrush of the Spine. His heart hammered in his chest as he waited to see what came out of the bushes, it was in the direction of the town, which gave him a small amount of hope that maybe they had noticed him sneaking out and weren't far behind him. Harry walked out of the bushes a few moments later, a look of concern and disappointment on his face as he saw Eragon lying on the ground. He had worked quickly and set his wrist and checked his ankle before picking him up gingerly and carried him back to Garrows house.

Eragon had been grounded for a month from hunting, not that he could have done any hunting anyways with his wrist braced up and his ankle being wrapped tightly to help them heal. Eragon had learned his lesson well that time and looked at his current situation with understanding. Harry wouldn't hold him back. Once he was ungrounded and was able to move and function again, Harry had walked with him to the Spine and then told him to go on ahead on his own. Garrow hadn't wanted Eragon to go on another hunting trip, but had relented when Harry said that he would go with him.

After they made it a ways into the Spine, however, Harry had explained that he needed to be self-sufficient and that if he hadn't learned from his last time out alone and got himself hurt again, that he would never again be allowed to go hunting alone in the future. Harry had placed his hand on Eragon's shoulders and told him that he needed to be careful, but that Harry knew Eragon was going to be able to do this on his own. Eragon had forced himself to get over his fear and worry and turned from Harry to go into the Spine.

He had his best success ever, one that he had not had even since then, and was forced to return to have Harry carry out the large deer that he had shot while he carried the five smaller animals he had caught in his traps. Garrow had been surprised and impressed by the amount of meat that Eragon and Harry brought back to the house and the money they received for selling the excess was a huge help for some equipment that made their lives easier. With that memory at the front of his mind, he nodded in acceptance to Harry. He would not try to use magic until Harry explained it and told him that he could try. Saphira was of a similar mindset and knew that, based on his interactions with her rider, she could trust him to have their best interests at heart.

* * *

Eragon was woken early the next morning, before the sun had began to work to trickle through the canopy of branches surrounding their campsite, by a shake to his shoulder and Harry calling his name. "Come on, Eragon. Time to be up and about. We have a full day ahead of us and we need to get started sooner rather than later." Harry's jovial and energetic voice broke through his sleepiness and he groaned before trying to roll over and away from the cheery voice. Harry chuckled before grabbing ahold of the boy's arms and dragged him out of the tent and sleeping blankets onto the cold, damp ground.

Eragon shot up with a yelp and tried to rush back to the warmth of the covers. He tripped in his hast and fell into his tent, causing it to collapse on itself. He groaned once more, still laying flat on his face, trying to get the nightmare to end so that he could get back to his sleep. Harry nudged him a couple times with his foot.

"Come on you sleepy, lazy rider. I have breakfast ready for you. It will be the nicest thing you get to enjoy until lunch. We have much ground to cover before we can start working on the more entertaining things."

Eragon was still slowly working to wake up after finishing the breakfast that Harry cooked, and had to admit that it was some of the best food he had tasted in his life. If this was the caliper of meals that he could expect, maybe he wouldn't mind getting up for breakfast. Maybe.

Harry told him to leave his empty plate and cup by the fire and to go over to sit down on a good sized rock that Harry was standing next to. The boy crossed his legs in front of himself and tried to get comfortable. The rock was smooth and flat on the top which made it a little easier to accomplish.

"We are going to start by having you focus on one thing. You had done this some with Saphira's egg, trying to memorize every inch of it. Can you bring that picture up in your mind?" Harry asked softly. Harry worked to keep his voice calming and wrapped a small amount of magic around the boy to try and help him focus better. Eragon had closed his eyes and Harry touched his mind lightly to watch as the egg was brought to the center of his thoughts. There was a number of thoughts that floated around the outside of his mental focus, but they were slowly lessening as Eragon focused more on the egg.

Harry saw Eragon nod once all the other thoughts had fully drifted away. Harry smiled gently. "Very good. Now, I want you to slowly let the egg move out of focus, let it get more and more blurry until you only have a mass of blue left. Nothing discernible about the egg at all." Harry watched as there was no change for a few minutes until the details started to fade slightly, then more and more as minutes slipped past until there was nothing but a blurry blue something in the center of Eragon's mind.

"Good. I want you to keep thinking of that and not a horse." Harry stated in the same voice and there was a flicker in Eragon's mind of a horse shaped blur. It flickered again until the horse started growing more detailed, as did the egg. Eragon huffed out frustratedly and both grew drastically more detailed. Eragon threw his hands up in irritation.

"I wasn't even thinking about a horse until you said something." Eragon whined, opening his eyes, the egg now forgotten completely and only a horse in the center of his mind with the other thoughts beginning to drift back in around the edge of his mind.

Harry chuckled lightly. "I didn't figure you did. You need to be able to keep your mind focused, even if you have something happen that might break your concentration or focus. We will stop here for now as it is nearly time for me to start making lunch."

Eragon looked around in surprise at how bright their camping area had grown. "But I thought that we had just started!" Eragon exclaimed. His stomach was of a different mind and growled loudly.

Harry smirked and nodded as he stood up slowly to allow his legs and knees to adjust from their previously held position. "The mind arts can be very disorienting when first starting out. You need to be able to hold your concentration on one single thing first, and then we will move to you getting faster at achieving a focus. Once you get that down, we will move into clearing your mind completely and keeping it clear. After all of that, we will start working to get your mind protected."

Harry started working to prepare the meal for their lunch and pointed off in a seemingly random direction. "Once you stretch your legs and joints, I want you to run that direction. About a mile from here, you will find a particularly large tree. Bring back some of the moss from the shady side of the tree and run back here. I want you to know what the cardinal direction is that the moss is growing on and be able to tell me what direction Carvahall is in. I expect you to be back by the time I finish making lunch." Eragon looked at him in shock. "Well, don't just stand there, I am already starting so you will have to be quick."

Harry chuckled as Eragon took off in the direction that he pointed. Saphira was already in that direction having been doing her own task that Harry had set her on after giving Eragon his breakfast earlier in the morning. When the two returned and Eragon finished eating his lunch, Harry would quiz the two on what the other had been doing for the day. If they had spoken together on Eragon's return, he would be pleased, if not, then he would be encouraging them to try and keep a consistent eye on each other so that they were aware if the other was in danger.

While it would add another level of difficulty to Eragon's training, it was absolutely necessary in the long run for the pair. After their discussions, Harry would have Eragon go back to working on his occlumency. By the end of the night, he fell asleep quickly from the mentally and magically taxing practice. He was also going to be helping Eragon learn maps and cartography. Being on a dragon as it flew could be extremely disorienting if one was not careful. The young man would also be expected to join in wear counsels and would need to know basics of reading and understanding maps.

* * *

The next week and a half followed a somewhat similar pattern from one day to the next. Eragon got better at the early morning wake up calls. Saphira was now able to make it above the tree canopy and glide on some of the wind gusts before needing to find a place to drop back through the canopy. Eragon was progressing very well with occlumency, and was able to now clear his mind very quickly. He still struggled slightly if Saphira looked in on his mind as he had to keep from getting distracted by her or her current thoughts, but the two were able to mostly accomplish what Harry was wanting for the pair.

Eragon was just starting to begin organizing his mind so that he could then work to protect them, but Harry was very pleased with the progress. Within the span of another week or two, he would really begin to train the pair. Saphira was nearly strong enough to start carrying the smallest of boulders as she flew, and Eragon would be better prepared mentally to start learning the theoretical and mental side of combat, strategy, and politics.

Harry himself still despised politics, but after his many years of life, he had been forced to get good at it. Somethings could be accomplished with magic and swords, while other things were better accomplished with words and alliances. Harry would help Eragon learn not only how to navigate the messy waters of politics and alliances and such, but also when to try to accomplish things through easy words and concessions, or verbal threats and stubbornness, or, preferably less often, just cold, hard steel.

Eragon had been growing stronger physically as well with Harry's continually increasing distances that he required the boy to run to help him stretch out his muscles after an occlumency lesson. Harry had picked out a number of different areas surrounding their camp that were not only very distinct stopping locations, but also held something for Eragon to bring back to Harry. Eragon was able to track his path on a map loosely based off the distance he ran and the turns he was forced to make because of brush or streams or other natural obstacles.

When the boy returned with the required item, Harry would explain what it was, why he needed to know about it if he was in another forest at some point while traveling, and how it could be used. Tracking methods, herbology, ways to ascertain directions, and various other woodcraft and survival skills were either taught of further honed during these runs while also helping the boy with stamina and speed.

Saphira had been given different rolls, twists and dives to practice and perfect as her body continued growing and filling out. She was unsurprisingly becoming on of the more skilled and graceful flyers that he had seen in any of Brom's memories. He also had her working to strengthen other muscles than just her wings with different exercises. While she didn't excel at some of them to the same level, she was improving quickly and seemed to enjoy the challenges.

Harry was slowly moving Eragon from only sorting and clearing his mind to working to send his mind out to his surroundings. It was a practice that the Dragon Riders would have young learners do; "go and listen until you can hear no more" they would say with no other insight. Harry would encourage Eragon to do that from time to time, but also to try and sense the life in everything around him. These tasks he struggled with more than the physical challenges Harry gave to him.

The weather was continuing to grow colder as time went on and Harry had the two going for a hike in the later part of the day instead of Eragon's occlumency lessons to have them get used to being in some of the harsher elements. He continued that practice as snow began falling, wanting Eragon to get better at finding his footing in the more treacherous conditions. Many times, the boy would come back with scrapes and bruises, but Harry knew the boy was better for it in the end.

After a few trips where he didn't suffer any slips or missteps, Harry began to tell Eragon to follow him on a run instead of giving him a destination in the mornings. Harry would quickly pull away from Eragon as he vaulted over downed trees and bushes, or seemed to leap an impossibly far distance over frozen creeks and streams.

Harry rarely veered from a direct path, slipping easily around tree trunks and boulders before getting back to the line he had been on previously. Eragon often returned to the camp frustrated that Harry was able to leave him behind after the hard work he had been putting in, but calmed when Harry started to give him small tips and encourage the boy to let his senses tell him of his surroundings.

Eragon had looked at Harry gobsmacked when the wizard had placed a blindfold around his head and took off in a different direction, his steps not slowing and easily moving around rocks, logs and brush that he shouldn't have been able to know were there. Harry had to bite his tongue hard when Eragon had tried and ran face first into a tree branch. Saphira was stuck between snickering at her rider and glaring at Harry. Eragon had nearly given up in frustration and anger at Harry until Harry decided he needed to slow down and start at a slower pace.

It had been something that had become instinctual to Harry after all the years that he had done so and had forgotten to ease the challenges a bit more. Eragon had been doing a wonderful job of learning and working to get better, but Harry knew he couldn't expect the process to go quickly. He had already been very in tune with his magic by the time he had started learning such a technique.

Snow covered ground had become a near permanent fixture in the area around them before Harry instructed Eragon to start working on building a shield around his mind. Eragon's thoughts were fully sorted and his mind would be able to easily take care of the majority of his thoughts passively, making it easier for the boy to let his focus be placed elsewhere. Saphira had done much the same, or as close to it as a dragon could manage and the pair was now able to achieve a clear mind while also being aware of the other and their surroundings.

Harry was immensely proud of the two and encouraged them to keep up the good work. They had also gotten where Saphira was able to protect Eragon's mind from Harry trying to get in, though with Saphira's mind, it was unnecessary for Eragon to learn to do the same as the mental practicing Saphira had been doing unexpectedly ended up keeping Harry from her mind completely unless she allowed him in.

Once Eragon finished building his first layer of shielding, Harry moved from working on Eragon's occlumency for the whole evening to only practicing it in the mornings when they woke and would then move to teaching him more about the history of Alagaesia and how that affected the politics that he would run into with the Varden, elves, dwarves, and other humans. Proper manners and etiquette for each culture, nuances, and any possible slang or slurs were covered in depth.

The main areas that Harry did not dive into as of yet was the Ancient Language and how the elves used it, though he briefly mentioned it in passing. He also was not working with Eragon yet on sword fighting. Both Eragon and Saphira were good students and the mental discipline of occlumency helped both with their retention and focus on the teachings.

"How is it that you know and understand all these things, Harry?" Eragon questioned one day after a shorter and easier lesson day.

Harry pulled out a book and tossed it over to Eragon. "I have had a good amount of free time on my hands while you were growing up and even while you have been working on your occlumency. I have thousands of books that I have read and learned from. But I also learned a good amount of this from your father during the time that I knew him and was around him."

Eragon looked down with a little sadness. "I suppose that makes sense. Do you think you would have taught me all this if I hadn't been the dragon rider?"

Harry shrugged and answered honestly. "Probably not. Unless you had wanted to and I hadn't found the dragon rider yet. If you had wanted to just stay on the farm all your life, there wouldn't be a real reason for you to know all this information. If you had wanted to go off and explore, I probably would have given you a crash course in it, but not anywhere near this detailed. These are going to be people and cultures that you will have to work around and interact with.

"You will also be a person that needs to be seen as a peer, not an underling or someone that is of lesser status. You will be the next leader of the dragon riders, and they are the ones who are supposed to keep peace between the different races and cultures. If you do something and unknowingly cause offense, it could be seen as you doing that intentionally, and not accidentally by those you offend. You will have to be careful of your words and actions as they can have consequences that last for decades or even centuries. Dwarves do not forget easily, and elves are even worse. Both races are long lived, but even humans can hold grudges for many generations. You are required to know this, so that you can lead well."

"But where do you fall in with all of this. I still haven't forgotten that you still look the exact same as when I first met you. I've even heard Garrow mumble about it a time or two and he doesn't understand it either, though he usually grumbles about being able to age well. You look human, but you seem to be way older than should be possible. You already told me that you aren't actually, officially my uncle." Eragon pressed slightly on a topic that he had been hinting at and flat out asking about for the entire time that the pair had been in their secluded camping area.

Harry sighed softly. "There is still a great deal about me that you don't know, Eragon. My desire is to look out for your best interests, but there are things about me that you don't know. Mostly because to explain one question would give you three others, which would lead to a massive amount of information that you might not be able to accept as truth. You have your occlumency shield though, and I know that if I were in your shoes, as I have been before, I would want to know everything. Even things that were more private and personal than I should be asking about." Harry gave a small smirk and chuckle as Eragon ducked his head slightly in embarrassment.

"No, it is completely natural for you to feel that way and want to know. I thank you that you have not tried to force the information out of me, however, it shows that you are a young man that is respectful of others. My full name if Harry James Potter. I am not originally from the world of Alagaësia. These things you already know. What you don't know is that I am from a world where there were many magicians; wizards and witches, we called them.

"I was born to two magical parents who were killed because they stood up to an evil wizard that was trying to make himself into something similar to Galbatorix. He had been in the final stages of accomplishing that goal when he focused on my family and me. I was a year old at the time. He killed my parents but failed to kill me because of some very old, ancient magics that had been put in place.

"I grew up not knowing that I had the ability to use magic and then spent over half a decade learning how to use it, how it affected me, and how I had to use it to fight against the man that killed my parents, because he wasn't completely dead. I was the leader of the war on my home world and when we finally finished the war, I spent nearly another decade working to get things cleaned up and moving in the right direction. Once things were set as well as I could accomplish was when I first felt it. My magic began building up and after two days or going to doctors and hospitals, I was pulled through time and space and ended up somewhere I had never been before, on a world I had never heard of at a time that made no sense to me. That started the pattern I have been in for the last….oh what is it now….eight, nine millennia?"

"What is a millennia?" Eragon asked confusedly, having never heard the word before.

"It is one thousand years." Harry stated nonchalantly.

Eragon passed out and Saphira gave a coughing gasp.

* * *

There had been many more discussions over the next month with Harry on the topic of his past and origins. Eragon and Saphira were both still working to wrap their minds around a human living for such a long time. Eragon was even more amazed when Harry mentioned that there were elves that had been around for even longer than that.

Saphira was not as surprised about the long-lived elves, having instinctual knowledge lingering around the edges of her mind. Harry guessed that it was some form of magic from the pact; it wasn't information that she had ready access to, but hearing information pertaining to it seemed to almost unlock some small amount of it each time. Harry and Saphira had both been intrigued by the phenomenon.

The depths of winter were passing and the seasons were slowly working towards spring though winter would likely still hold on for another few weeks. Harry was grateful that everything seemed as calm and uneventful in the world outside of the Spine as it had been before Harry and Eragon had made their departure from Carvahall. Eragon's family had arrived safely from their travels, but Harry had given them a number of nudges to continue moving towards Daret, the shipping town that Joed lived in, so that they were able to make it there before Harry and Eragon.

While there was a slightly larger amount of soldiers stationed in Daret that Roran would have to dodge, Harry had crafted a trio of pendants that held a modified notice-me-not charm that allowed the young man to avoid notice when about in public by soldiers looking for able bodied men. It hadn't limited the work that he was able to do, but even if it had, Harry had preemptively expanded the pouches of money he had initially given to Roran and Garrow so hopefully they didn't feel any pressure to go out of their way to make money to cover their needs.

Harry had reduced the amount of time they were working on occlumency down to where Eragon would clear his mind and sort the information from the day as needed before going to sleep. He was to continue working on building his own shields stronger on his own time. Harry's focus now was getting Eragon more aware of his surroundings while fighting and drilling fighting stances into his muscle memory. The boy had been learning sword fighting techniques from Harry since he was young, though nothing as formal or intense as he was now, and Harry wanted to help him prepare for any larger scale battles or fights that he may find himself in.

Harry tossed Eragon a wooden training sword. It was lighter than Eragon would ultimately be using, but even with the different workouts Harry was putting him through, they needed to build up his arm strength still. While they were helping his body get used to swinging a sword, starting and stopping it quickly and holding for blocks or parries, they would also be working to hone his senses and reactions.

"You will fight me while watching the area around us. Either side of you, in front of you but behind me, or anything behind you has the chance to possibly attack you. If it is only you fighting in an area, which I would hope you wouldn't allow yourself to get into a situation like that, but in case you do, you must be prepared to protect yourself from every angle. You will hear a bell noise and one of these dummies around us will light up. You have to call out the number that is over its head. Do you understand?" Harry asked strictly.

Eragon nodded. "Yes sir."

"Good," Harry pulled out the training swords he had made and tossed one to Eragon. Before it was in Eragon's hands, Harry smirked and shouted, "Begin!"


End file.
